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Friday, January 31, 2014

Week 3 -- The Dream Team

Familia!!

Whew this week was a good one! First things first...we had
orientation last week for our new district! It was so much fun and we worked
with the zone leaders, did some skits, and our new district is really great. We
get to do orientation again tonight because we have another new district...BUT
they're all elders :(

Muchas gracias for all of the packages! All of the themes are so
cute mom! We got the fish, nuts, and cookies! I also got a package from the
Kellems family this week and one from Mama Randall! I've been writing thank you letters, but I'll
be sure to snap pics too. Apparently, our apartment is popular because our
kitchen counter is covered with packages! We have sorted it all by what it is
and we call it the "Food Court." Everyone comes by to eat ;)

Soooo...El Equipo de Sueno (Dream Team) is in full swing because
now we have uniforms! We bought the Mexico shirts at the bookstore! Not to
mention the Nikes and the baller socks and shorts. I hope you loved all of our
pics because we literally have a blast. Sad news though...Hermana Cline and
Hermana Paskett are leaving on Monday. So
sad, but we'll keep the B-Ball tradition alive!

I've got a great story for you … Hermana Taylor was saying a
prayer for us in class one day and she said bless the food not to give us
"infierno" instead of "enfermo." For all the non-Spanish
speakers out there, she asked that the food wouldn't give us hell, instead of
not make us sick. We've all been dying for days and Hermana Mansfield tells the
story to everyone that will listen!

Fun fact! Remember when Rachel and I took the missionary
discussions in Keller 1st?? Remember Elder Daniel?? Hermana Daniel has told me
a million times that her brother served his mission in Texas, but I never put
two and two together. The Elder Daniel
is my companion's brother!! CONNECTIONS.

Janice Kapp Perry taught Relief Society this week! She taught a
lot about music and we sang a lot of primary hymns that she wrote. I felt again
that kids would be so important to me as a missionary. I saw myself teaching
kids songs from the children´s hymnbook and just felt like it would be a really
powerful took for me in people´s homes. Of course, I bought a children´s
hymnbook today in Spanish! I think I like Spanish more than English!

So remember when I told you about our activity last week when
all of my hermanas said good things about each other? Well, here´s a little of the back-story. I had
been feeling that we should do this for about a week, but we kept running out
of time and I kept putting if off. During
devotional last Tuesday the thought hit me again but much stronger this time. I felt that I needed to modify our district
meeting and do that instead that night. As
we get back to our class, the Branch President is with our district, and I was
pretty scared to ask if I could change the meeting. Finally I got enough guts and he kind of made
this face and said we could try it. I
felt pretty dumb; however, it went really well! Well, I shared this experience at our district
meeting Sunday when we were talking about following the spirit and a member of
the Branch Presidency piped up and told me that even though I felt dumb, it had
an impact. He said at the meeting with the new district this week, the
President had companions do the same activity. He made a comment that it went
so well that they were going to have to do that more! Moral of the story … Don´t doubt it when the
Spirit tells you to do something. Even
if it´s scary, even if it´s dumb, it´s for a reason, so just do it!

We had our first experiences with TRC this week! I´m not
entirely sure what that stands for, but basically we teach volunteers and a lot
of them are actually from Mexico! Sometimes
we use Skype too. They had us bring only
scriptures and our first lesson was with a member who hasn´t been going to
church lately and didn´t have a temple recommend. I understood a lot of his Spanish but also
missing quite a few things. He wasn´t
really saying much about why and then I just heard him say ¨dolor¨ -- I had the
thought to open my scriptures. So I did and I ended up in Isaiah 53. I had him read verses 2 to 6. The Spirit in that room was so strong and I
started to tear up as I bore my testimony about the Savior. We truly touched the man we taught and he just
kept saying ¨con esperanza¨ over and over. I know that the Lord will talk to us and help
us to reach people. I LOVE being a
missionary!

Also in TRC this week, we have a new investigator, Daniel. He literally looks like a Mexican gangster. Walking over to TRC we were terrified. We begin talking to him and he´s kind of going
after us a little bit. He doesn´t want
to talk about religion and he keeps saying that the whole thing is a joke. I don´t think I´ve ever been more
uncomfortable in my entire life. After about 15 minutes of giving us a hard
time, he finally invites his countenance changes and us to sit down. We started talking about his family and he
showed up pictures of his children. As
he was talking to us, I grew to love him. He wasn´t scary anymore. I just saw so many holes in his life and all
of the comfort that he needed, and I knew that the gospel could heal his heart.
I just caught this fire! My wheels began turning how to help him and
what I could share with him.

Hermana Daniel and I also started reading the Book of Mormon
aloud in Spanish together this week. WE
LOVE IT. I know that this book has power
and that it´s true. I challenge y'all to
study from it as a family together every day! I promise it will bring peace and strengthen
relationships. The scriptures,
especially the Book of Mormon are so powerful.